short balls sunday

Did Sara Bareilles‘s Gravity really play at the end of tonight’s Brothers & Sisters? How exciting. Congrats to her!

Anyway, onto the short balls…

On Nole, Fed Cup, and her shoulder: Women’s Tennis Blog is on doodle patrol, and we get some Maria Sharapova questions answered by the player herself.

Nole gives back: Davis Cup hero Novak Djokovic understands how important he will be (along with fellow players Janko Tipsarevic, Ana Ivanovic, and Jelena Jankovic) in shaping the future of Serbian tennis. And he takes this role seriously. (via SMH)

Roger and Masha get ranked again:BusinessWee releases its Power 100, a list of the most influential people in the world of sports. Of course, Roger and Masha make the list (and are the only two tennis players to do so). (via TennisInfoBlog.com)

Match-fixing spills to WTA: Tennis Diary’s Nina Rota does some legwork to find out more about possible match-fixing on the WTA. This time, the match involved Tatiana Poutchek and Mariya Koryttseva in the quarterfinals of the Sunfeast Open two weeks ago.

Is there really no room for beer and pizza?: LTA juniors David Rice and Naomi Broady had their funding suspended after photos of them binging on alcohol and junk food surfaced on the internet. I guess it makes sense to work hard before you get to the top. But when you’re there… it’s a whole other story.

Slide show:The New York Times breaks down how clay king Rafael Nadal has been improving his hardcourt game.

He’s no square peg:Bonnie D. Ford tells us that the 6’9″ John Isner is fitting into the pro tennis world just fine.